Historical fallacy
The historical fallacy is a logical fallacy originally described by philosopher John Dewey in The Psychological Review in 1896. Most simply put, the fallacy occurs when a person believes the results that occur only happen because of the process taken to achieve these results. Dewey writes:
- "A set of considerations which hold good only because of a completed process, is read into the content of the process which conditions this completed result. A state of things characterizing an outcome is regarded as a true description of the events which led up to this outcome; when, as a matter of fact, if this outcome had already been in existence, there would have been no necessity for the process."[1]
Examples
- A man loses his wallet but has an idea of where it might be.
- He looks for his wallet and finds it where he thought it may have been.
- The man falsely concludes that he knew where his wallet was the entire time.
- Thus, the man incorrectly concludes that knowing where to look (ie. the process) was essential to his finding the wallet (ie. the result)[2]
References
- The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology, John Dewey, The Psychological Review, VOL. III. No. 4. July 1896. p. 367
- "Historical fallacy". APA Dictionary of Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. n.d.
Further reading
- Good, J.A. (2005). A Search for Unity in Diversity: The 'Permanent Hegelian Deposit' in the Philosophy of John Dewey. Lexington Books. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-7391-6066-4. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
- The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology (1896)
- APA Dictionary of Psychology
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